9
important for the FEW nexus because many of the meals in these households are
stewed meats or seafood, mashed vegetables or fruits, or porridges. So water is essential for cooking, as is the fuel that is locally obtained. The cooking techniques also
provide the benefit of treating some of the contaminants in the water. Also, some of
the water that is collected is used to irrigate crops in home gardens.
As noted, outside the major cities in the global South, sanitation services are
much less developed. According to the WHO, 2.3 billion people (30% of the
world’s population) still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or
latrines. Of these, 892 million still defecate in the open, for example, in street gutters, behind bushes or into open bodies of water. This leads to high levels of mortality for children under 5 years old, and for women and children, it leads to a high
risk of sexual assault.
Nations attempt to provide secure access to these resources for their citizens and
achieve some degree of FEW self-sufficiency, even when it comes at an economic or
environmental cost. This includes a wide range of financial incentives for domestic
production of FEW commodities or tariffs on imports. Environmental laws are also
commonly structured to avoid impacting the production of FEW commodities.
1.3.1.2 Criterion 2: Heavy on Physical Infrastructure
Maintaining a reliable and consistent supply of food, energy, and water has resulted
in the building of extensive physical infrastructure to store, transport, distribute,
and deliver them to all economically advanced human communities remote from
their sources. While most communities have access to local water supplies, and
many have access to some locally produced foodstuffs and energy sources, all cities
currently rely on extensive physical infrastructure to sustain the regular importation
of huge masses, watts, and volumes of food, energy, and clean water. Human-built
physical infrastructures supplement, and in some cases, replace or dominate, natural
physical infrastructures that provide FEW commodities in some degree of quality
and quantity. Significant physical infrastructure also exists for the disposal of waste
materials and water.
In addition to physical infrastructure, humanity has communication infrastructures, service infrastructures, and social infrastructures that guide the functioning of
physical infrastructure and convey values, culture, and money.
Food, energy, and water systems each include infrastructure that extends from
production to processing to distribution to consumption.
For Food
• Food production, for much of the world’s population, comes from a global network
of farms and fisheries which receive inputs of human labor, seeds, animal feeds,
fertilizers, herbicides, fuels, pesticides, and irrigation water; may produce waste
byproducts such as manure and contaminated water that require processing and
1 Introduction
important for the FEW nexus because many of the meals in these households are
stewed meats or seafood, mashed vegetables or fruits, or porridges. So water is essential for cooking, as is the fuel that is locally obtained. The cooking techniques also
provide the benefit of treating some of the contaminants in the water. Also, some of
the water that is collected is used to irrigate crops in home gardens.
As noted, outside the major cities in the global South, sanitation services are
much less developed. According to the WHO, 2.3 billion people (30% of the
world’s population) still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or
latrines. Of these, 892 million still defecate in the open, for example, in street gutters, behind bushes or into open bodies of water. This leads to high levels of mortality for children under 5 years old, and for women and children, it leads to a high
risk of sexual assault.
Nations attempt to provide secure access to these resources for their citizens and
achieve some degree of FEW self-sufficiency, even when it comes at an economic or
environmental cost. This includes a wide range of financial incentives for domestic
production of FEW commodities or tariffs on imports. Environmental laws are also
commonly structured to avoid impacting the production of FEW commodities.
1.3.1.2 Criterion 2: Heavy on Physical Infrastructure
Maintaining a reliable and consistent supply of food, energy, and water has resulted
in the building of extensive physical infrastructure to store, transport, distribute,
and deliver them to all economically advanced human communities remote from
their sources. While most communities have access to local water supplies, and
many have access to some locally produced foodstuffs and energy sources, all cities
currently rely on extensive physical infrastructure to sustain the regular importation
of huge masses, watts, and volumes of food, energy, and clean water. Human-built
physical infrastructures supplement, and in some cases, replace or dominate, natural
physical infrastructures that provide FEW commodities in some degree of quality
and quantity. Significant physical infrastructure also exists for the disposal of waste
materials and water.
In addition to physical infrastructure, humanity has communication infrastructures, service infrastructures, and social infrastructures that guide the functioning of
physical infrastructure and convey values, culture, and money.
Food, energy, and water systems each include infrastructure that extends from
production to processing to distribution to consumption.
For Food
• Food production, for much of the world’s population, comes from a global network
of farms and fisheries which receive inputs of human labor, seeds, animal feeds,
fertilizers, herbicides, fuels, pesticides, and irrigation water; may produce waste
byproducts such as manure and contaminated water that require processing and
1 Introduction